Dreamcatcher
by allokai
Summary: Having moved overseas to escape the enexplicable, menacing happenings back in Goldenrod, two siblings find that they may have gone from one bad situation to another. Along with a cursed vulpix, they must learn to tell truth from deceit...
1. Chapter 1

(All right, here is the first chapter. This story is a rewrite of my earlier pokemon fanfiction, The Lakaito Chronicles. The story will feature all the same characters, and (hopefully) be much better than the first version. Reviews are hoarded, and will likely inspire me to write further chapters...)

Chapter One-Night of Illusions

Night. The tall grasses outside swayed gently in the wind, and cricket song could be heard clearly. The moon above was gloriously full, and its light shone down and illuminated the landscape brightly. Rolling hills stretched off into infinity in the distance, and the night sky above was unblemished by clouds of any sort. Stars speckled the endless darkness that was the sky, pinpricks of light that gleamed like tiny jewel shards in the blackness.

There was a settlement there, a place that could be called a town or city, nestled in the rolling hills as they leveled out somewhat. Small neighborhoods made up more than half of the city, grassy lawns looking cheery and healthy even in the night. There was a main street there, quaint little shops lining the street. The middle of the town held the regular stores and supermarket. The only oddity of the place was that there was a single large building there, standing at the very outskirts of the place. It seemed old and looked ancient, contrasting fiercely with the rest of the relatively newer looking buildings of the town.

All together, it could be called a sleepy place, though there were many other places like it that were much, much smaller. It was really quite compact for a place of its size, and yet somehow managed to feel airy and roomy at the same time.

Outside the town, the great, rolling emerald fields stretched far to the east and west, peacefully silent and pristine under the night sky. These hills seemed to have an almost mystical feel to them, as though something had happened there long ago and hadn't quite faded away.

To the west of the city, the land started to grow rockier and rockier, until it came out to the ocean, high cliffs towering over rocky shores, waves splashing thunderously below on some nights, peaceful as a sleeping kitten on others.

One had to work to get to the sea if one wanted to go in a direct rout, climbing down the rocky cliffs to the scant beach below. But there was a place further down the road away from the town and into the hills that was perfect for the casual beachgoer. The rocky cliffs there gradually leveled out somewhat, though large boulders flecked with granite still stuck up from the sand around the shore.

It was altogether a little surreal looking in the bright moonlight that illuminated the place, the large boulders looking like testaments to some ancient time, the beach's soft sand seeming almost white in the moonlight. The peaceful sound of the tides seemed to project an aura of other-worldliness, and one who came here at this time might find himself trapped in the spell of the night.

Though the place looked deserted, it seemed there was one here. A soft footfall on the green hills leveling off to the beach sounded faintly in the night, and a great shadow soared overhead, seeming almost ghostly against the night sky.

The man stood on one of the hills, regarding the peaceful sea before him. His eyes ranged from the rocky beach to the serene ocean, as if trying to see something deep in it all, something that could not be seen at first glance.

His long brown hair blew back in the slight wind rolling off the sea, and he leaned back a bit, letting it fill him like one might let cold water fill them on a hot day. Brushing a few stands of unruly hair out of his dark eyes, he began to walk forward, pace slow and unassuming, as if he had no reason to be here other than to enjoy the night's spell.

But he did have a reason to be here, and it glistened in his eyes. He was here for something important, his step fueled by a steadfast determination and will.

And yet his walk was casual as he stepped from the hills and to the beach, never carrying any semblance of hurrying, as if he had all the time in the world. He occasionally paused on his walk up the shoreline, looking closely at the sand, the rocks, and everything about him without really seeming to look too hard. It was almost as if he was searching for something, and his body was tense underneath the relaxed aura he projected, as if ready for action at the least notice.

And yet he did not appear too armed; he was actually very far from it. His clothing was simple, light and cool, not looking as if it could hide any weapons. He carried nothing in either hand. There was a solitary ball clipped onto his pants pocket, but it wasn't holding anything. The only other thing that he carried was a long brown feather twined masterfully into a strand of his similarly colored hair.

That was all there was to him, at least on the outside. His light frame did not mark him as any kind of warrior. He looked more like a dancer, elegant and graceful in even the most simple of movements. This hinted at great agility and speed should the time come. His eyes were gentle looking and relaxed, though they practically crackled with intelligence.

At long last, he paused. The tides sloshed about his ankles as he stepped out to sea, watching the moon glinting across the endless water before him. He stood there for a long while, letting the wind play with his hair. His eyes were closed, and it was as if he was listening for something that was far off, perhaps beneath the waves.

A few moments later, he turned from the ocean and walked back up the beach, continuing his walk along the shoreline. His step was a bit more jaunty than it had been, bouncing a bit as he strode briskly forward. One would almost expect him to start to whistle, but he remained quiet, as he had been before. He made absolutely no sound as he moved on, and he seemed almost ghostly.

That was how it was for a long while. He gradually traveled farther and farther from the town behind him, a slight smile on his face. His pace remained steady, though it was far from mechanic.

By and by, he came upon a large boulder set out into the ocean a ways. It stuck up far from the water, rearing above everything much like a lighthouse did on a cold stormy night. It looked old, barnacles clinging to its sides, small caverns in it filling with seawater and emptying as the tide swept in and out.

As the man drew level to it, he altered his course so it would take him out into the water. Pausing for a mere moment, he stooped and rolled up his pant legs, taking them up to his knees. Then, he stepped out into deeper water. The surf came right up to his knees as he drew close to the huge boulder and began to climb it, expertly gripping the craggy surface, finding the handholds as if he knew them by heart.

He came to the top of the boulder in a surprisingly quick time, rolling his pant legs down once more as he gained the top. This done, he walked out to the edge of the boulder, seating himself gracefully and staring off into the ocean, obviously prepared to be there for a long time. He shut his eyes a few moments later, meditating.

Time passed as he sat on the boulder, never moving once, to all eyes unaware of his surroundings. It would seem at first glance that everything around him was peaceful and void of life, but that was wrong.

There was something further on up the beach from man and boulder, something that's movements were oddly jerky. It moved furtively, and paused often, as if to sense for something ahead of it.

It was nearing the spot where the man sat peacefully atop the boulder. He did nothing as it moved further down the beach, its dog like form blending with the deeper shadows of the hills. It paused now and again to snuffle in the sand, spitting out little grits of it as it went on, as though it had not found what it wanted. It stopped short as it neared the boulder the man sat on, however. The wind blowing in from the ocean caught his scent perfectly and flung it into the creature's face.

Large eyes blinked, shining luminously in the night. An ear twitched as it turned its head to look out to sea, and those eyes caught sight of both man and boulder. For a moment, it simply stood there, remaining very perfectly still, unnaturally still, as though it was a boulder itself. Then, it moved.

A foul scent came off it as its jerky steps brought it nearer and nearer the boulder, like that of tar and smoke and oil. No pokemon smelled like that except perhaps a grimer or muk. Its slicked back fur was thick with the foul substance, as if it had been born that way. In a way, it had.

The creature came to the water, pausing as its paws splashed into the surf. It looked down at those paws as if it had never seen water before, ears angling loosely downward. Then, as if nothing had happened, it started forward again, swimming awkwardly as the water became too high for it to effectively stand in.

The sound of scrabbling on the bottom of the boulder carried clearly to the man's ears, and yet he did nothing. His hair blew around his face in the night wind as the scrabbling grew louder and louder, the creature moving stumblingly up the boulder and toward the top.

The man remained, to all eyes, unaware of his surroundings as the creature came to the top of the boulder. His eyes were still closed, a peaceful, tranquil look on his serene face.

The creature itself paused as if it did not know exactly what to do. Eventually, it moved a little closer to the man and let out a sharp cry that was rather akin to the sound of someone drawing his nails across the blackboard. Its eyes watched the man for a reaction, any kind of reaction.

The man, however, remained still as he had before, expression never altering. It was as if he was deaf to the world.

The surf moved in and out, the moonlight beaming down on the man and the creature. Both were still now, like two antiques set up on a shelf.

The creature eventually decided that it couldn't stand this anymore. It flexed its jaw a few times in a very odd movement, giving itself a little shake. Its large, luminous eyes shone in the night like headlights, seeming to grow brighter and deeper as it slinked toward the man. It was very close when it stopped again, bunching itself up as if preparing to spring forward. Its leap would carry it right into the meditating man before it.

The man's eyes snapped open as it leaped. He moved to one side, gracefully dodging out of the way as the creature sailed toward him, movements coordinated and practiced. It was as if he had been waiting for just this moment. Something streaked down from the heavens as he twisted out of the way, something large and feathered.

The pidgeot seemed to be diving down impossibly quickly, and yet he hit the creature in mid-leap, knocking it into the sea below with a sharp crack. He pulled effortlessly out of his dive just before colliding with the rock, coming to rest perfectly on the boulder, the powerful wind his wings created blowing the man's long brown hair to the side. A splash below signified the creature reaching the water, though it made no sound of its own.

The man quickly rose from his crouching position on the extreme verge of the boulder. Walking calmly to the edge, he paused to give the pidgeot an absent pat on the crest.

The pokemon itself was an excellent specimen, at least three heads taller than the man, perhaps more. His feathers gleamed with health in the moonlight, sharp eyes bright and raptorial.

Man and bird moved their gazes simultaneously to the dark ocean water below, as if trying to pierce its depths. The man appeared remarkably unshaken, and not a feather of the pokemon beside him's glossy plumage was out of place. They continued to peer into the dark water together, both with the air of a patient predator waiting for his prey to show itself.

A shadowy movement behind them went unnoticed. The creature limped up onto the beach, staggering a bit. Its side was ripped open, and several ribs were broken, along with its right front leg. It staggered up the shore from the water mechanically, though it made no sound of pain, and never once turned back to face its persecutors. Instead, it began to move swiftly down the beach. The limp was there, yes, and the blood it leaked thick and black looking. Despite this, though, it never acted as though it was in pain. It was as if the injuries were only a setback, and no more than that; something annoying, yes, but nothing that really bothered it.

The man whirled around just as it seemed the creature might escape. Without a sound, he leapt deftly down the boulder, skillful feet finding the exact places to stand, nimble as a mountain goat. The pidgeot took flight behind him, soaring over his head and into the night sky as he splashed into the water, not bothering to hem up his pant legs this time.

The creature was running now, its broken leg held up tightly against its chest. Its hind legs seemed to be slightly longer than its front ones, and it used this to its advantage, leaping over the sand, barely leaving any tracks at all.

The man reached the beach behind it, and, never missing a beat, tore after it. His step was light and he seemed to almost skim over the sand, his poise excellent. He sprinted forward on his toes, never making a sound, breathing soft despite the great pace he was maintaining.

The pidgeot was ahead of the man now, his powerful flight taking him closer and closer to the fleeing shadow that was the creature. He angled his talons downward as his flight brought him over the fleeing thing below, and then dove.

The creature below barely managed to get out of the way in time. The sand flew around it and the pidgeot in a miniature chaotic storm as it dodged out of the way, leaping off in the direction of the sea and vanishing behind several nearby boulders.

The pidgeot voiced his frustration in sharp, angry cries, peering around himself as though trying to see where the creature had gotten off to. Alas, there was nothing there anymore. The surf lapped calmly against the shore, the moon beaming peacefully down on the vast ocean, as it had been before.

The man presently came running up beside his pokemon, not looking winded at all. He gave the pidgeot a questioning look. The bird only glared angrily, though the anger was not directed toward him, and he knew it.

It was as if the creature had vanished, the only sign of it being its light prints in the sand. The man followed these prints, step slow and light, ready to leap backward should the creature come running out from the nearby rocky boulders and attack. He followed the prints past one of the large boulders, his path gradually taking him down to the sea, where the tracks disappeared into the surf.

The pidgeot remained standing some ways behind him, preening jerkily, a sign of aggravation. His eyes gleamed fiercely, a raptor who had missed his kill and who's pride would not let him forget it easily.

The man simply stood down by the shoreline, the water lapping about his feet. The night was calm and quiet, peaceful really. The blood and scuffed sand marking the short chase seemed dreadfully out of place in this ethereal landscape. The pure white glow of the moonlight made everything oddly softer, blurring harsh reality into something different, something not quite of this world…something out of a dream, an illusion.

After what could have been seconds or ages, the man turned and strode back to his pidgeot, a light, calm smile across his face, features showing no frustration. "We lost it, Azre." His voice was soft and gentle, much like the rest of him. "It got away somehow. Tracks disappear at the water's edge…"

Azre gave a sound of frustration, ruffling out his feathers once more. His head crest bristled up as the man stroked it. Adrian chuckled to himself, seeing no need for silence now as he tried to calm his long time companion. He had lost what he had come to find, but if things kept going the way they were, he had no doubt that he'd get a second chance.

Azre cooed softly as the man's slender, graceful fingers ran through his head crest, calming him as they never failed to do. He ruffled his wings out a bit, enjoying the simple feeling of being with the young man beside him.

"Come on. Let's be heading back, lest we become caught in the night's spell. We'll get another shot at this mystery, don't worry." The man stepped back as the huge raptor before him leaned down ever so slightly, then deftly climbed onto his back, twining his hands in the pokemon's long feathers. He could have mounted even if Azre had been standing, but it was common courtesy between them for the pokemon to kneel down, thus giving him permission to mount.

The pidgeot flapped his great wings in the still night air, creating a miniature sandstorm about him and Adrian. He forcefully lifted himself and the man into the air, catching a strong wind as he gained altitude and soaring off into the night, back in the direction of the town, becoming a mere dot against the night sky and then winking out altogether.

Back at the beach, the marks of the recent chase had disappeared, the sand unmarred and serene as ever. The night went on as it had before it was so rudely interrupted, as though the scene that had happened such a short time ago had been nothing but an illusion…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two-Mahar

"Vul…" The word was soft, and somewhat meaningless. It was as if the creature who had uttered it felt a need to make herself known, before even she began to doubt her own existence.

Indeed, it was easy to lose yourself here, to believe yourself invisible and removed from everything, yet somehow bonded with it as well. The night was so quiet that it might have been a void save for the hills all around her.

The little creature standing there was a vulpix, though admittedly a bit young to be out on her own. She would probably have become fully independent of her family a few months later, but what had happened back in the forest that had been her home had made the need to leave apparent. She would not be going back there. She shuddered just to think about it.

But she really had no idea what to do with herself. She wasn't hungry, as she had recently caught a few rattata to munch on, and a rather stupid blackbird that had stood calling damnation down upon her. Obviously, it had had no idea how far a good ember attack could travel.

No, she was good at fending for herself…good for an adolescent vulpix, anyway. Her parents had taught her well.

_My parents…_ Mahar felt more alone than ever as she let her mind wander to her family. She knew it would be foolish to ever hope to see any one of them again. She still didn't fully comprehend what had happened back there. Those humans hadn't been the normal breed of trainers. No, she had always had a fascination of trainers and a somewhat puny fear of humans, which was often squashed by her own immense curiosity. She had watched many a trainer, and even interacted with a few of the beginning ones she knew to be no real threat. Yes, she knew more about trainers than any one of her cautious family had, and she could definitely say that those humans who had destroyed her family were not normal…not normal at all.

Mahar took a deep breath and pressed on through the hills. She had no real destination in mind. There was a small purpose in the back of her mind that she knew to be somewhat foolish. It was a longing for answers, for any sort of information on what had happened to her family after they had been caught.

She wished sometimes that she had let herself be sucked into one of those balls. It repulsed her to even think about it, that much was true, for she had sensed only death down that path, death or something far worse than death. But at least she might have been with her family, at least she wouldn't be stuck with this horrible sensation of not knowing, of wondering what might have happened, what should have happened…

Mahar paused suddenly, one paw raised questioningly. She sensed something out there in the night, some abnormal vibe, something out of place…

_Close? What is it…? _Mahar cocked an ear, taking in the night's rhythms around her, the smells and the sounds and the scents. _Trainer._

She did not run. She sensed that this was not one of the trainers who had taken her family, and so not truly dangerous. Besides, what did she have to lose?

However, the vulpix was picking up a scent strong with fear radiating off the approaching trainer. She noted nervously the thuds his shoes made on the grass, the way his breath rasped noisily in his chest, as if he had been running a long time.

Then he was in view, racing breathlessly along the turf toward her, though she was not his goal. His belt, which contained one pokeball, marked him as a beginning trainer, at least to Mahar, for she had found that higher level trainers seemed to carry more pokemon as they grew in power.

The boy's appearance was somewhat messy. His shoulder length dark hair, while not exactly spiky, puffed out at the sides. Two light brown eyes peered from the large, somewhat crooked pair of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. A coat much too big for him was tied around his waist, and its sleeves flapped in the mind. He looked to be about fifteen, though it was hard to tell in the night.

Mahar thought it was probably ridiculous to think of him as a threat, if anything could be told by his appearance. She simply watched as he drew nearer and nearer, wondering what had happened to upset him so. He was clearly terrified.

As it was, he nearly ran her over. She let out a sharp cry of indignation as she realized that he was not going to swerve to avoid her, having failed to notice her in his fear of whatever was chasing him. She barely escaped having one of her tails stepped on as she threw herself out of the way of his rather large shoes. As for the boy, he tripped and fell with a shout.

Mahar watched him as he slowly got to his knees, strands of his hair falling over his face. He took in breath after shuddering breath and coughed a bit, pushing his glasses further up on his nose with his pointer finger before turning his head to look at Mahar.

"Vul," she said, not really making an effort to form words or communicate. After all, the majority of humans were too unwilling to listen and learn to understand pokemon speak. The only ones she had met who had the merest inkling of what she was saying were trainers. Somehow, though, she didn't really expect him to understand her, especially not in the state he was in.

"Oh…vulpix. Hey, vulpix." His voice was soft and raspy as he spoke to her, and he kept shooting glances over his shoulder, as if looking for something behind him. A few seconds later, he scrambled to his feet, swaying unsteadily for a moment before starting forward again, though his pace was considerably slower than what it had been.

Mahar stared into the night behind him as he pressed onward. The rolling hills and fields in the distance glistened emerald in the moonlight, and the night sky seemed to go on forever above it, almost looking as though it touched down in some far distant place, like a dome. That was why this place was often referred to as The Sky Dome, Mahar knew.

There didn't seem to be any danger. The vulpix's nose wasn't sensing anything irregular. She could see nothing out there that was moving save for the taller grasses blowing gently in the wind coming in from the sea.

"Oh, they're out there." Mahar started a bit as the boy's voice came to her. He had stopped some ways ahead, and he read the question in her eyes as she looked at him. "Evil people…bad trainers are chasing me. Not Team Rocket, or Aqua or Magma. Something else, something worse. I have to get away…" And he turned and started jogging again, leaving Mahar more confused than she had been before.

The fox like pokemon decided after a few moments of thought that she ought to follow him. Perhaps she could help him. The mention of, 'evil humans' brought back memories…maybe he could give her some clues on what had happened to her family. She started purposefully after him.

He seemed surprised to see her trotting along beside him, and then he smiled. "You're different, aren't you, vulpix? I've never met a vulpix who would interact with humans…normally so solitary…"

"Well, I suppose I always was the oddball." Mahar found herself speaking, though she didn't expect him to understand. He didn't seem to mind though, merely nodding. Mahar supposed he had been running a long time with no company but his fear, and thus was glad to have some company, even if it was only a young vulpix.

The odd pair went on in silence for a moment, and, as no signs of pursuit surfaced, the boy slowed his pace to a walk. His breathing gradually returned to normal, and he began to speak softly to Mahar of his home across the sea, of how he had been kidnapped and brought here, of how he had barely evaded capture again.

Mahar listened with interest, hoping against hope that he would mention something that might be a clue as to what had happened to her family, but he did not. She supposed that she ought not have hoped…besides, even if he did see a ninetales or vulpix somewhere, what reason would he have for mentioning them anyway?

"I'm Geoffrey." He spoke his name out of the blue, a slight smile on his face. "I would ask your name, but I can't understand you. See, I only just became a trainer…my pokemon is actually stolen." He looked down at Mahar, then added hastily, "I didn't steal him from another trainer or anything. When the bad people were taking me across the sea, I overheard some of them talking about how they were going to throw him overboard or put him down or something, so I snuck in and sucked him up into the only ultraball I had. They never suspected, since I wasn't a trainer when they kidnapped me."

"Vul." Mahar nodded to him. She didn't think she would have really held it against him even if he had stolen a pokemon from another trainer…what did it really matter, anyway? Battling pokemon, in her opinion, was just wrong. It didn't matter if trainers thieved pokemon from one another, for the life was usually all the same. Pokemon were just objects to humans.

"You know, vulpix, before I was kidnapped my family all disappeared." Geoffrey spoke softly, voice almost a whisper, though Mahar's finely attuned sense of hearing picked up on his words with ease. "First it was my big sister who vanished, then my uncle, and several of my relatives I didn't know about. There were odd things happening back where I lived, as well…other people were disappearing. And one day, I just came back from school to an empty house. My parents were just gone. Their pet Persian died defending them…" He paused, a frown on his face. "I tried to run, got a room at a hotel, but they caught me later, in my room. Scariest moment of my life, that was…"

Mahar padded on in silence beside him, digesting this information. She waited for him to tell more of his story, for he had only given her a skimpy version before, but he said nothing.

They were nearing a city. Mahar found she could smell it. It wasn't a big city, or at least it didn't feel like one. It didn't smell of pollution or smoke or hundreds of cars, unlike the one huge city she had visited before, so long ago.

"Vulpix." She spoke to get his attention, trotting along in front of him. She figured that he would probably be safer in a city, as humans tended to protect other humans. "Follow me." And then she started off, hoping he would understand her intent, if not her words.

"You want me to follow? If there a safe place up there?" Geoffrey blinked, then hurried to catch up with her, jacket sleeves flying out behind him.

Pleased, Mahar led on, following the scent of the city. It wasn't far, maybe a mile or two. They would be there soon if they kept a brisk pace. Mahar had no clue what they were going to do when they got there, but, as she had thought before, she had nothing to lose. She had no real purpose in life, and maybe she could find one with this boy. After all, he needed protection, and she needed answers. Information traveled quickly amongst humans, she had found. Perhaps she could somehow make him understand just what sort of information it was she wanted. It was a start, anyway.

The vulpix drifted into her memories as they walked on. The night sky and the earth below seemed to come together in perfect harmony, creating a sense of peace around her, and she found she could drift into her own recollections easily. She remembered her home…a great forest south of here, far behind her now. The trees had been so huge that they seemed to breathe in the clean forest air. There had been a city there near the forest, though of course she and her family, living in the heart of the great forest, were never seen by any trainers.

However, Mahar had been about to change that. She had had a great curiosity and fascination with people in general and trainers in particular, and she had wanted to learn more. As she had grown older and more independent, she began to venture out toward the outskirts of the forest where beginning trainers came to catch pokemon. At first, she had not let herself be seen at all, watching from behind some bushes or from a tree, for, oddly enough, she was a good tree climber. Gradually, though, she had grown bolder, and had sometimes made herself known to the people there.

Mahar chuckled quietly to herself as she remembered. How the people in that city must have talked about the brave little vulpix who liked humans!

She had been very audacious, there was no questioning that. From playing with humans children to taking food from the hands of trainers, she had gradually come to think that perhaps humans weren't so bad as her family made them out to be. This trust had been considerably diminished when some trainers had actually tried to catch her. She had had a few narrow escapes, that was for sure. However, though this had made her more cautious, she had continued to interact with the humans, gradually gaining a better understanding of them and their city.

Mahar was so lost in her happy memories and sense of longing for days that had past that she failed to sense the presence coming up on them until it was almost too late. All she knew was that Geoffrey suddenly gave a shout and started running ahead, looking behind himself once with fear filled eyes.

Mahar paused for a split second. That was all the time it took for her to sense something behind them. She peered behind herself for a fleeting instant and made out a group of humans coming toward them from far away, appearing from behind a large hill to the east. This may not have been cause for too much fear, as the humans were reasonably far away, but Mahar glimpsed something running in front of them, something that seemed to float over the ground and that's dead eyes struck fear in Mahar's heart. She was running alongside Geoffrey in the next moment, little legs straining to take her as quickly as she could manage.

They were coming up on the city. It was very, very near now, and Mahar barked and yipped and generally tried to urge Geoffrey to run faster. She was filled with an all-consuming desire to escape, a feeling that reminded her sickeningly of the day on which she had lost her family and fled her home. She could not allow herself to be caught by those humans, could not allow Geoffrey to be captured by them either. He was her companion now more than ever, as they were both united in their desire to escape.

Mahar gradually became aware of a road stretching to the left. The road cut through the hills and snaked down into the city, and soon the vulpix could see the city itself, a small place looking sleepy and quaint in the moonlight.

A sense of dread filled Mahar as she sensed whatever it was coming up on them, so close now, they were doomed, doomed… The pokemon closed her eyes as she made a desperate leap and gained the road, Geoffrey beside her.

Quiet. There was nothing now, nothing but the sounds of the night. Mahar cracked her eyes open, and she could sense Geoffrey's confusion and fear as he looked behind them. Mahar turned and followed his gaze with her own, rather dreading what she might see.

Nothing. There was absolutely nothing behind them. The tall green grass swayed peacefully on either side of the lonely stretch of road. The chasers could have been an illusion. Mahar found much to her disquiet that she could not sense anything, either.

"…I want my life to be normal again…" Geoffrey's voice shook slightly, and Mahar pressed up against his leg reassuringly.

"I am here. I will help you," Mahar said, though she knew he could not understand her. She felt his fingers lightly stroke the reddish curls on top of her head, his hand still trembling a bit, and she thought of how alike they were, of how their situations were the same. Perhaps they could help one another, she and he. It was worth a try.

Underneath the moonlight, a vulpix and a human walked down the road and into the city side by side, one hoping to find answers and the other only wishing for safety. Both were equally lost in the world, and neither had any idea of what fate had in store for them…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three-Across the Sea

_There was a room there, a high room, above it all, and cold. Nikki hadn't minded, though, had never really minded it. When she had first arrived at that house, that old house that had looked haunted, she had fallen in love with that high, airy, private little room with the one window that let in its cold sunlight._

_No one could really understand her wanting to be in the room, or her attraction to it. On the contrary, it was small, cramped, purposeless…her bedroom had originally been going to be in another room, lower, and larger, with her own bathroom._

_But the then six year old Nikki would not let herself be torn from the room she had run to upon first arriving at the new house, and it was there that she stayed. _

_She liked to think that room had been her first real, true teacher, though that didn't really make sense. She could spend hours sitting on the bed in that tiny circular room, and gazing out the window. Goldenrod wasn't really too exciting, she supposed, but she and her family had lived on the outskirts, tucked safely away from everything…or so she thought._

_She had watched things happen from out that low set window. She had observed the clouds rolling across the sky on their journey to Goldenrod, though from her house she could only see the distant tops of the buildings. She had mastered the art of keeping still while wild pokemon and animals roamed about in the pine tree that practically grew against her window, and she had taken to leaving food out on the meager windowsill that protruded on the outside. She had left all manner of leftovers and nuts and seeds for the sentrets and pidgeys and wild birds and squirrels that inhabited that pine tree. _

_She had watched them with an intense interest, and found that they helped her to think, to take her mind off things and to combat her own loneliness._

_She was rather a lonely little girl, for she was home schooled and didn't get out into the city of Goldenrod much. That, coupled with her somewhat shy nature, had kept her away from others her own age, whom she had originally not had much contact with anyway. _

_She did have a wonderful family. There was her older brother, Arrik. Even though he was only one year older than her, he still acted annoyingly condescending toward her. She tried not to let it bother her too much. Her mother was her inspiration, and always encouraged her to finish anything she set her heart on. Her father she didn't see much of. He was often off at his job, which she thought was called Viuo-Tech. She had no idea what that was, apart from the fact that her father studied rare metals and alternate sources of power and mechanical things. And cloning, and genetic engineering, though she didn't hear much about that and was too young at the time to really be interested._

_Years passed. Nikki grew to be ten, and everything seemed to stay the same. She still didn't have any friends outside of her family, and, if anything, her father only became busier. _

_Arrik, on the other hand, changed somewhat. He grew his thick, straight black hair out long, so that it fluffed out a bit at the sides. He also made the decision to become a pokemon trainer. _

_Nikki knew she had that option available to her as well, and she might have become a pokemon trainer as well as her brother had not he dissuaded her. _

_He didn't dissuade her verbally. If anything, that would only have made her more determined to train pokemon in the first place. No, he did nothing like that. He simply did something that turned her off from the idea of pokemon training greatly._

_She had become friends with the wild pokemon and animals that took the food from her windowsill, and some would even eat out of her hand. There was a particular little sentret with unusual dark stripes about his eyes that she had a particular affection for. She had named him Fudge, and he would respond when called. He may well have become her first pokemon, which would have been good, for she had already completed the task of taming him. However, Arrik intervened before she could really make the decision to get her trainer's license._

_Arrik had acquired a male nidoran and a spearow, one shortly after the other. Already showing promise of becoming a dedicated trainer, he had raised them both up from low levels to their early double digits, and he was looking to catch more pokemon. _

_One day, he came up to Nikki's room unannounced, when she had been feeding Fudge from her hand. It was a particularly good day for Nikki, for she had managed to coax the little fellow into her room, and was currently spoiling him rotten with more treats than usual. Arrik, seeing the sentret as an unusual specimen and another pokemon to train, had wasted no time in throwing out a pokeball and calling his nidoran, telling it to attack the sentret._

_Nikki would have protected the squirrel like pokemon, but he jumped away across the room as the nidoran ran to attack him, and was cornered against one of the walls. There, he was jabbed mercilessly by the small poison horn of the higher level nidoran, his cries of pain echoing about the small room. _

_Nikki, paralyzed before, had leaped off her bed in a fury she had never really felt in her life. She had grabbed the nidoran with her bare hands, grabbed him and yanked him viciously away from the twitching sentret. That he now jabbed at her with his horn made no difference, and she barely felt any pain through her anger as she made to throw him to the ground. However, the small poison pokemon had dissolved into red light and been sucked back into his ball before she could do him any damage._

_A shouting match between the two siblings had shortly ensued, and it may have escalated into something more had not their mother intervened. _

_Their mother. She was a wise woman, a woman who often saw beneath the surface of things. She had an insight keen as sharpened steel, and a wit that rivaled that of any person she met. She also had a good understanding of things and what needed to be done._

_She had come softly into the room as Nikki, cradling the little sentret in her arms, had shouted at Arrik. The boy was trying to rival her, but he found to his surprise that her voice drowned him out. Also, he had never seen her so enraged before, and it frightened him somewhat. He was becoming hoarse and a little desperate when their mother entered the room, shutting the door so quietly that neither of them heard her._

_She broke into the somewhat one sided argument in time to save Arrik from becoming humiliated and Nikki from slapping him (for she felt like doing just that at the time.) Instead of reprimanding them, though, she had taken them both downstairs and sat them down, letting them cool off for a while and giving Nikki some bandages and medicine for her wrists where the nidoran's horn had grazed her . _

_Some time later she had brought them iced chai and cookies and talked to them both in a low, patient voice. She had told Nikki not to interfere with Arrik's trying to catch pokemon, and had made Arrik promise not to catch any of the pokemon near the great pine tree where the pokemon Nikki fed congregated. _

_This decision satisfied both parties, and the two siblings grudgingly made up. However, Fudge escaped from Nikki's arms and ran away and never came back. And Nikki decided not to become a pokemon trainer, at least not until she was older._

_More and more time passed at the big old house. Nikki turned grew to be thirteen and began tinkering around with an old guitar her father had left. She found a bass in time and started on that, too, and then gained an interest in keyboards. This gave her a reason to go to the local music class, and she gained some knowledge of those instruments and others. She also gained a few friends, and found a buried need in her fulfilled at last. _

_However, she still had a somewhat shy nature, and the old habit of feeding the pokemon at the window and simply watching the world outside refused to be broken. Not that she really wanted to break it. People labeled her a dreamer, though she was simply quiet and a somewhat awkward age._

_Her brother had become quite competitive and good at his pokemon training. His nidoran had evolved into a nidorino, and his spearow was now a magnificent fearow. He had caught a whole host of other pokemon as well, and had also gained a tauros._

_This tauros was the only pokemon of Arrik's that Nikki really grew to like. Unlike most of his kind, he had a gentle nature, and would have been better suited to be a pack animal rather than a battler. _

_Nikki gained an attachment to him, and gave him a pet name of 'Puppy,' which confounded and dismayed Arrik to no end. However, the tauros would only answer to that name, and in time Nikki's brother gave in, remarking that the wild bull pokemon might as well have been Nikki's. _

_That point about marked the end of an idle period in time. Things happened after that, odd things centering in Goldenrod, dangerous things that Nikki didn't want to remember. The girl was fourteen when they began to happen, and, though the odd happenings somewhat disturbed her parents, they weren't living close enough to Goldenrod to really be bothered too much._

_Besides, the things that happened didn't seem to be related. A house broken into here, something stolen here, people feeling as though they were being watched, but never quite being able to pinpoint just who it was that was watching them. It all had a feeling of menace to it, but Nikki didn't hear much about it and didn't worry. _

_Then, people began to disappear. There was a news article about a young boy who had vanished. His innocent face and bright blue eyes disturbed Nikki as she read the news story. The weird incidents after this became more and more pronounced, as people began to have odd 'accidents,' and a haze of unease and general fear drifted over Goldenrod. More people turned up missing._

_The near final straw came when one of Nikki's cousins, who also lived on the outskirts of Goldenrod, went missing. Her jacket and an odd, clean knife were found in the yard below the pine tree near Nikki's house. The fourteen year old was the first one to look down and see it. Terrified, she took to staying in her room, refusing to go to her music lessons at Goldenrod._

_Her parents gained a tight, pinched look to their faces after that, and Arrik simply looked disturbed. _

_Nikki did one of the oddest things she had ever done, then. She crept downstairs when her parents weren't looking and, despite her revulsion, she retrieved the knife and stashed it away in her bedroom. She had no idea whatsoever why she had done it, and her parents didn't seem to miss it._

_Nikki's fifteenth birthday overtook her like a hunter overtaking its prey, and she had a strained and tense party. Her father, smiling, presented her with a trainer's license, saying she needed pokemon, that she had a talent with them. He also gave her a white meowth kitten with a silver charm and bright blue eyes, telling her that she was genetically engineered to learn moves quickly and to have that color of fur, and a bunch of other things Nikki didn't really absorb. The girl felt amazingly spoiled, _disgustingly _spoiled, and this was only compounded by the fact that she had to pretend to be happy with her license and first pokemo . She named the kitten Coral and never put her in her pokeball, which became dusty as it sat on a shelf above where the knife was hidden._

_A few days later, something horrible happened at Nikki's father's work. She was never really filled in on what it was, and didn't think she wanted to know. She was only informed that they were moving almost immediately afterward, that it wasn't safe here anymore. They would be going overseas in less than a month._

_Nikki moped morosely about and stayed up in her tiny room most of the time, wishing she could take it with her and trying to memorize its last tiny details. She took several pictures of it. _

_Saying goodbye to the pokemon who had become her friends while she was growing up was the hardest thing of all. Arrik's suggestion that she need only catch them filled her with a deep disgust, and she wished she had never become a trainer, that her father her never gotten her her stupid license. It seemed to mark a turning point, a point that turned her life upside down, and was, in her mind, perversely connected to the reason they had to move in the first place._

_They moved about a month later, trailing on down to Olivine's harbor with their bags and the moving trucks. Nikki walked as if she was one in a trance, Coral in her arms. Arrik, normally adopting an annoying older brother attitude, had put his arm around her shoulders and guided her into the ship and to her room there, where she would sleep during the voyage. _

_She didn't cry. She felt hollow, as if she might let loose a flood of hysterics in a hundred years, but she was deadly calm. And, in a few days, she gradually went back to normal again, though there still was that deep lingering sadness and longing to go back to her high room, to be with the wild pokemon. She felt she would never be the same… _

_But life goes on, and one must adapt to it as best as one can. Everything happens for a reason…_

"Ugh…" Nikki clenched her hands under the blankets. They were both terribly numb, for she had slept on them.

Her feet, which had an annoying tendency to hang over the edge of the small bed, were cold, and she dragged them up into the warm cocoon her body had created.

Murmuring miserably to herself, she ran her hands through her thick brown hair, wincing as they caught in the tangles. This was one of those mornings where she wished she had never been born. They were occurring more and more frequently, she found.

Trying to shake her sleep off, Nikki all but fell from the tiny bed. The rocking of the ship beneath her feet snapped her back to reality, and she realized she had been dreaming of the house she had just left, of her high room and the wild pokemon…

She ran a brush listlessly through her hair, wondering for the first time if they were the only people traveling on this ship who were actually moving to some other place to live. The city they were moving to was called Far Reach. What a nice name, she thought sarcastically. It only served to remind her of how far she was from the place she still considered to be her _real_ home…

"Merth?" A little voice alerted her to the second presence in the room, and she looked down at her ankles to see a little white meowth twining around them. Coral. Her pokemon.

"Hey." Nikki bent down slowly and scooped the cat up. Even though she hadn't wanted to become a trainer, she had found herself growing attached to the little thing. She only hoped that Coral wouldn't be ripped away from her, as her home had so suddenly.

She walked over to her bed and sat down on it, aware she had gone to sleep in her clothes again, and not really caring. She stroked Coral's head as she waited for the inevitable sound of Arrik's voice calling her up to breakfast. It had been that way for about five days now, ever since they had set sail. Nikki had forgotten how long it was going to be until they got to there new home. She thought she probably wouldn't have winded if they never did.

"Nikki!" A rap on her cabin's door. "Come on up and eat!" Then Arrik's voice was gone, leaving Nikki with a somewhat wry feeling of triumph at having predicted almost exactly the time he would call her.

Carrying Coral in her arms, the girl blinked owlishly at herself in the mirror. Good enough, she thought. Now to face the world once more…

(I'm sorry about the lack of updates on both stories, everyone. I'll try to update more from now on. Thank you for reviewing!)


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